This year, while working on the second draft of his forthcoming book -- J. Thomas Looney's Shakespeare Identified: The 100th Anniversary of the Book that is Revolutionizing Shakespeare Studies -- James A. Warren continues to unearth long-forgotten artifacts from the period after publication of Looney's myth-shattering work. His most recent discovery is having learned that there was an Australian edition published by the venerable Australian bookseller, Angus & Robertson.
"I just discovered that there was an Australian edition of Shakespeare Identified in addition to the London and New York editions, published in Sydney by Angus & Robertson on May 12, 1920," Warren said.
Earlier this week Warren also reported his discovery of a letter from J. Thomas Looney in Gateshead, England to a newspaper in Sydney, Australia.
On June 10, 2020, Warren said:
"Just found another letter from Looney responding to a review. This one is from The Sydney Morning Herald in Australia. This makes seven articles/letters by JTL to have surfaced in the past year. Several of them will be reprinted in the forthcoming issue of The Oxfordian." [SOF annual The Oxfordian, Vol. 22, edited by Gary Goldstein, due out Fall 2020]
Warren also uncovered the article that prompted Looney to write to Sydney.
"Attached is the article in The Sydney Morning Herald to which Looney responded. I found it and a dozen reviews of Shakespeare Identified when searching Australian and New Zealand databases earlier today," Warren said. "The reviews in those far off places are, on average, more positive than those in the hostile London press."
Looney's response to the April 23, 1921 Sydney Morning Herald article titled "Shakespeare's Birthday" was dated June 4, 1921 and published two months later, on July 15 under the heading "Shakespeare's Identity". A portion of Looney's graceful and intelligent prose is reproduced here.
Sir, — A friend, resident in Sydney, has kindly forwarded to me a copy of your article on “Shakespeare’s Birthday,” in which appreciative mention is made of my work, “Shakespeare Identified.” This constrains me to send you a few words. If only by way of grateful acknowledgment. What, I feel is not sufficiently realized is that the “ingenuity,” which you so generously attribute to me, is much more apparent than real. As readers of the work see the extraordinary way in which all the details of the case fit in with one another they carry away, at first, an exaggerated impression of skilfull manipulation. The actual cause of this seeming ingenuity is, however, the fact that the personality and career of Edward de Vere permeates the whole of the Shakespeare literature in a way that has frequently surprised me.
. . .
Strong as is the initial probability that Oxford was author as well as prototype, special confirmation is found when we turn to the sonnets. These poems, which, as you remark, “so often resemble self-revealings, (yet) have baffled innumerable students who have sought to pluck out the heart of their mystery,” become for the first time simple and intelligible when Oxford is accepted as their author. They fit him exactly and literally in a way that they do not fit anyone else to whom it has been sought to attribute them. Once this is realised, in conjunction with Oxford’s position in the Shakespeare dramas, the world will be unable to withhold longer from him his rightful honours. The work and the man are more inseparable now than they have ever been before.
A transcript of the entire letter may be viewed at JT Looney to Sydney Morning Herald July 15, 1921 . A transcript of the original "Shakespeare's Birthday" article is at "Shakespeare's Birthday" Sydney Morning Herald, April 23, 1921 .
These antipodean titbits are in addition to masses of JTL material Warren has already published, and plans to publish. For a listing of the published, and in-progress works, please see "Warren to publish centennial book in 2020" published on this weblog Feb. 29, 2020.
Another of Warren's recently unearthed JTL literary artifacts may be found in a beautifully written review of Shakespeare Identified titled "The Latest Shakespeare" published May 26, 1920 by The Times of India. Background of this review, and a complete transcript are available on the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship website at "'The Latest Shakespeare': The Times of India (1920) Reviews Looney's Landmark Oxfordian Book" SOF website .
Resources:
"'The Latest Shakespeare': The Times of India (1920) Reviews Looney's Landmark Oxfordian Book" SOF website
"The Latest Shakespeare" The Times of India May 26, 1920 p. 11
JT Looney to Sydney Morning Herald July 15, 1921
"Shakespeare's Birthday" Sydney Morning Herald, April 23, 1921
The Oxfordian annual published by SOF
"Warren to publish centennial book in 2020" Oberon Shakespeare Study Group Feb. 28, 2020
https://www.angusrobertson.com.au/company-information